Some councillors hold noses as garbage cans approved

Councillor Rob Hutchins called them ‘mini-landfills’, and Coun. Duck Paterson wondered if they could be made to fit in better if they were wrapped, but despite reservations, functionality prevailed, and council voted May 16 to go ahead with a program to install high capacity garbage receptacles in the downtown core of Ladysmith.

In March council deferred installation of a new system in the downtown area over aesthetic concerns. Some complained the receptacles were too big and chunky, and that their appearance made them inappropriate for First Avenue and the heritage character of the downtown, despite the fact that the in ground system can take 52 cubic yards of garbage, compared to 5 cubic yards with conventional small containers; and that pick ups can be cut back from two or three times a week to once every six to eight weeks.

The openings to the new cans are also too small for people to shove household garbage into, and offer protection against crows and other scavengers, which frequently scatter the contents of the existing cans.

Hutchins was still opposed. “I appreciate the functionality of these little mini-landfill dumps,” he said, but then added, “I feel very uncomfortable with the large ones.”

He added that to his knowledge only one community in B.C. has installed the high capacity system in its downtown core, although the Chamber of Commerce and the Ladysmith Downtown Business Association have both indicated they are in favour of going ahead with the project.

Coun. Duck Paterson, who also expressed concerns with the new cans, eventually moved that the town go ahead with installation, adding the proviso that they be made to fit in “so that they don’t look like stumps.”